Book 2: Chapter 29: Death Battle
This was an exorcist’s true skill! Qin Lun tightly clenched his fist, his pupils shrinking into the size of pinholes as the feeling of crisis arose in his heart.
When Qin Lun first arrived at Albert Castle, his impression of Tony was that of an outspoken and brash noble who acted first and talked later. But, after seeing his treatment of Little Miller and the role he played when Qin Lun became a member of the exorcists, the blond youth finally started to show his mature side.
Even so, Qin Lun still did not take him as an excellent fighter. Even when Tony dealt with Ben, the large bear, and taught him how to dodge, Qin Lun did not change his impression of him.
From his point of view, as long as Joey made an appearance, Tony would be no different from the other killers that had died by his hands. He was just one of the powerless, irrelevant people, albeit… a bit physically stronger than the others.
Despite the constant talks of exorcists, witches, and evil organisms, he had never viewed them as powerful creatures that surpassed human limits.
The gargoyle that he killed and the clumsy Will that had fallen into the human-eating flower trap were all proof to him that the so-called witches and exorcists were normal creatures. Their battle capabilities were not frightening and still within range of human limits.
However, this one move from Tony shattered Qin Lun’s perception of this world, and finally made him aware that the strong exorcists might not be something Joey could fight directly and win.
From what he heard and seen these past few days traveling with the exorcist team, Tony was one of the stronger exorcists in the group, but not the strongest. That Flower Overlord Nova was even stronger than him.
If Qin Lun fought Tony in a direct fight, he would not beat him. At least, if he was faced with the strike from just then, he would not be able to block it. Qin Lun’s heart sunk. It was fortunate that Joey did not go out of control that night at Albert Castle and try to obtain information by force. Otherwise, he would be dead by now.
No wonder the three exorcists had him stay behind. Even Frank, who had a pretty decent amount of brute force, was not needed in the fight. Qin Lun had thought Frank was left behind to protect him, but now, it looks like they were afraid Frank would hold them back.
Once he became aware of that, Qin Lun fell into a pensive state watching the battle. He was thinking about how to win if he ever went against a strong exorcist or a Maize Witch who was good at black magic.
Serial killers have a type of instinct. Even if he does not surpass human limits, he does have the ability to kill exorcists and witches, it’s just that he had not found a way yet.
The Maize Witch screeched angrily as she took on Tony’s Twisting Death Kill. Her body was sent flying into the air, but Qin Lun could not see any blood; all he heard was a brittle ‘clang’, like gold hitting wood.
The witch’s long, black hair suddenly spread out like a peacock spreading its tail. Part of her hair acted like a bandage as it wrapped around the crisscross wound. She landed on the ground and rolled many times, her eyes, that originally held a gentle and lovely look, turned vicious.
“Graah!” The Maize Witch opened her mouth wide, her small mouth stretched from ear to ear, and her seductive face rotted at a speed visible to the naked eye. The outer skin dripped down like lime, revealing the white mossy and cracked ugly appearance below.
All the witches were old, even if they were created through magic medicine after the Millennium Contract was signed, they were still over three hundred years old. Although they obtained the “undead” attribute, their original pretty and lovely appearances could not be retained. At most, they could only use black magic to conceal their true appearance.
This witch had no choice but to release the magic hiding her appearance to focus it all on combat due to Tony’s strike.
The scroll Otto used was a very common earth attribute spell, “Gravity Magic”. Most witches could use magic to fly, so to defeat a witch, one must eliminate their flight advantage.
The witch stood back up, a large “X” shaped wound was visible from her shoulders down to her ribs. “Twisting Death Kill” was a very powerful twin sword skill, if it weren’t for the witch’s wood-like body, this one skill would be enough to slice her into four.
The black hair wrapped around her wound slowly blended into her body. The flesh around the wound wiggled like maggots, and the wound healed at a visible speed.
This degree of injury was not enough to kill a witch. A witch was an “undead”, there were very few methods to truly kill them. Using fire to purify them was the best method. The fire could destroy the soul and body of a witch at the same time.
Besides fire, there were naturally other ways, for example: chopping off their head, using magic items that contained the “longevity” attribute and stabbing them in their heart core, and so on.
“Ahahaha!” The Maize Witch swept her gaze around the battlefield, a strange hoarse laughter coming from her mouth, like an owl’s cry. Unable to keep her beautiful appearance, her voice also returned to being damaged. She now fits Qin Lun’s image of a witch.
Tony and Otto did not stop after that strike and continued to battle against her. Tony raised his twin swords while Otto suddenly held a long, pointy pike, flickering with silvery light.
The pointed pike was hollow and sealed with “holy water” that was blessed by the Believers. As long as it was stabbed into the place where the witch’s heart core was at, even if it doesn’t kill the witch, it was enough to make her lose all her magic and turn into a normal old woman.
Tony was in front of the witch in an instant, his twin swords raised and swung down to behead her. A silver light streaked from the top down like a whip.
Exorcist battle sword skill—Half-Moon Beheader!
“Hehe!” The witch laughed strangely and waved her staff, leaping into the sky. “Gravity Magic” only prevented her from flying for a period of time, it could not completely restrict her movements. At the very least, witches could change from flying to leaping.
“Die!” The witch had only jumped halfway when a round shadow appeared in front of her. Hidden behind Tony, Otto had long been waiting for her move, letting the witch send herself to her demise.
The point of the flickering pike became bigger and bigger in the eyes of the witch, stabbing into her and splitting her left chest open like a hot knife cutting through butter. Her body, that was as strong as a wooden stone, split open like cream cake. The point of the pike stabbed into a shining red, nut-shaped heart core.
“AHH!” With the witch’s scream, the long hair behind her suddenly rose sharply and stabbed into Otto’s chest like sharp wires.
“Pop pop pop!” His face and upper body burst into bloody fireworks, and he slowly fell to the ground like a log with a bang, throwing up dried leaves and dirt.
“Sire Otto!” Tony’s eyes reddened, and he roared as his twin swords turned back into one. Whirling around his body and arm, his sword sliced at the witch’s back, sending her flying into the air.
Exorcist battle sword skill—Whirlwind Slash!
Qin Lun, who was watching while hidden in the underbrush, was dazzled. Two exorcists fighting in mutual understanding and disregarding their lives to do such heroic deeds made him feel touched. Tony’s sword skills were very strong and brilliant, but Otto’s godly judgment was even more amazing.
Otto was behind Tony and fought with him in such coordination that it made the whole fight look like something out of a well-arranged drama. The Maize Witch, who had an arsenal of black magic under her belt, actually couldn’t pull apart the distance and fully put to use her proud magic skills to kill Otto!
No wonder the small team would be led by Otto and not Tony Albert. Otto truly had the qualifications for the job. If it weren’t for the situation being disadvantageous for the exorcists, Otto likely wouldn’t have needed to sacrifice himself in order to deal with the witch.
The witch fell from the sky onto the ground, remaining motionless. Tony ran forward two steps after sending the witch flying and picked up Otto.
“Is the witch dead?” Once Otto spoke, blood spurted from his mouth like a fountain. His upper body was already drenched in blood, while his face was full of bloody holes. His eyes were already blinded, while blood poured faster than ever out of his chest, like a bee’s nest.
“She’s…” Tony tried to choke down his grief as he looked over to where the witch had fallen. He was just about to declare her death when his eyes suddenly focused on something, and he slowly placed Otto down, his face ashening as he got up.
The witch, whose heart core was pierced through, slowly crawled up from the ground, turning and looking at Tony with a malevolent expression.
“Creak~~” The witch used one hand to grab the silver pike, and with an ear-piercing sound, pulled it out. A dark green liquid flowed out once it was pulled free.
“Clang!” The witch threw the silver pike to the ground, used the sharp nails on her right hand to dig into her wound, and pulled out a dim, shattered heart core.
“Heheh, exorcists, you didn’t expect this did you?” The Maize Witch laughed evilly as she took out the shattered heart core and hooked a finger at Tony.
“This is impossible!” Tony bellowed, picking up his sword and throwing himself at the witch again.
“Exorcist brat, we are a little too far apart. It should be my turn now!” A trace of mocking flitted through the witch’s eyes. Jumping high into the sky, she avoided Tony’s strike and waved the staff in her hand, manipulating the air to hit Tony and sending him flying in turn.
“She has another heart core!” Otto vomited some more blood and struggled to sit up. Although he could not see, the experienced exorcist already knew what was going on.
This Maize Witch wasn’t simple, when witches were born, they only have one heart core. It was also the root of their “undead” state. A witch that has two heart cores means that she has killed another witch. While the other witch was still alive, their heart core would be dug out. Using that method, a witch could obtain two heart cores.
It should be in the right chest! Qin Lun, hidden behind them, also watched with a dark face, staring at the witch’s right chest. He and Otto came to the same conclusion for why the witch wasn’t dead.
If he still doesn’t interfere, the probability of failure for this operation would be around ninety percent. Qin Lun turned his head to look at the battle, his eyes flickering…